Tennis Has Successful Opening Day of Play
9/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The University of Alabama tennis team opened up fall competition Friday with five players in action in two separate tournaments, the UVa Fall Invitational and the Thomasville Collegiate Invitational. Crimson Tide players posted a 5-2 singles record on the day and were 1-1 in doubles.
Sophomore Sammy Struyf rolled off a pair of three-set singles victories at the Thomasville Collegiate Invitational as he defeated Martin Steigwardt of Georgia State in the opening round. Struyf then held off Victor Sanakai Papi of Auburn-Montgomery in the second round.
Javier Bes recorded an opening round victory as well. Bes cruised over Valdosta State’s Dominic Hansen in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 before falling to Loes Jelinek in the second round.
Struyf will attempt to remain unbeaten at the event Saturday morning before teaming up with Bes in the afternoon to open up doubles play.
At the UVa Fall Invitational, top-seeded Dan Buikema and Billy Mertz each advanced to the second round. Buikema was pushed to a third set by John Pelton of Western Michigan, but prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Mertz won in straight sets over Dan Nguyen of Harvard, 7-6, 7-6.
In doubles, Buikema and Thibaudeau ran up against top-seeded Joey Atas and Peter Rodriguez of Duke. The UA duo gave the top seeds a run before falling 8-5. But Buikema and Thibaudeau did rebound to win their second doubles match of the day 8-6 over Martin Sayer and James Lloyd of Radford.
UVA Fall Invitational
Billy Mertz (Alabama) def. Dan Nguyen (Harvard) 7-6, 7-6
David Simon (Louisville) def. (4) Mathieu Thibaudeau (Alabama) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
(1) Dan Buikema (Alabama) def. John Pelton (W.Michigan) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
(1) Joey Atas/Peter Rodriguez (Duke) def. Dan Buikema/Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA), 8-5
Dan Buikema/Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. Martin Sayer/James Lloyd (Radford), 8-6
Thomasville Collegiate Inviational
Sammy Struyf def. Martin Steigwardt (Ga. State), 6-4, 4-6, 10-8
Sammy Struyf def. Victor Sanakai Papi (AUM), 6-4, 2-6, 10-7
Javier Bes def. Domic Hansen (Valdosta State), 6-4, 6-2
Loes Jelinek (Valdosta State) def. Javier Bes (Alabama) 6-0, 7-6
